Marlyn Glen has been informed by Scottish Education Minister, Keith Brown, that the Scottish Government still intend that “the replacement of Harris Academy will be progressed through the East Central Territory Hub.”

Ms. Glen had written to Education Secretary Mike Russell last month asking why the establishment of the £1.4 million East Central Territory Hub had been given priority over the refurbishment of Harris Academy .

The Hub is not yet completely established, but the Scottish Government insists that the Harris Academy refurbishment must be carried out through it.

Ms. Glen said that would mean that work on the West End academy would now begin “well after the Scottish Parliament elections next year”.

Replying on behalf of the Education Secretary, Keith Brown, the Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning, told Ms. Glen,

” The replacement of Harris Academy will be progressed through the East Central Territory Hub, a new Government consortium which will deliver improvements in the way that community based projects are delivered.

” I was pleased to note that Dundee City Council immediately issued a press release wholeheartedly welcoming both the timing and funding allocation from the Scottish Government and that it would be progresses through the Hub territory.”

Ms. Glen commented,

” The Minister gives no educational explanation why the Hub must take precedence over Harris Academy.

” While the announcement earlier this month of funding for the Harris refurbishment was just another re-announcement of the project, the timetable for the refurbishment stretches further into the future.”

A re-tabled Parliamentary Question has established that the numbers in Dundee and Angus diagnosed with diabetes on admission to hospital is thousands more than the Scottish Government has previously admitted.
Marlyn Glen had previously been told by Public Health Minister Shona Robison that the numbers diagnosed with diabetes on admission in Dundee and Angus over the past 4 years ( 2005-09) had totalled 1,076.
However, this figure was only for those with a primary diagnosis of diabetes.
Ms. Glen described this as ” a lack of information” and re-tabled the question asking for the numbers with diabetes for any diagnosis on admission
The Public Health Minister then gave the figure as totalling 14,390.
And, in a departure from the answer given when the question had been initially tabled, information was disclosed on the extent of diabetes in areas of the city and areas of Angus communities.
These figures are available on Ms. Glen’s website at :http://www.mglen.org.uk/diabetes.htm
Ms. Glen said,
“These figures are by no means the complete picture of diabetes in the two council areas.
“However, as much information as possible from whatever credible source must be made public to heighten people’s awareness of the extent of diabetes in their city, their towns and their communities.
“Diabetes is and will be a significant public health concern in this decade and beyond.”
Ms. Glen added that there are over 2,400 people in NHS Tayside are estimated to have undiagnosed diabetes, according to the Scottish Public Health Observatory

According to the 2009 Scottish Diabetes survey, there are 16,283 people in NHS Tayside with the more common Type 2 diabetes and a further 1,771 with Type 1.

The overall Tayside figures accounts for 4.6 per cent of the population (the Scottish figure is 4,4 per cent)

Levels of diabetes in 2010 in NHS Tayside have now exceeded predicted levels for diabetes in 2018.

Marlyn Glen says that the figures ” demonstrate acutely that the rise in diabetes is one of today’s biggest public health problems.”

Ms. Glen said that in 2005, ABPI Scotland (the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry in Scotland ) produced a report called “The Future Burden of CHD ( coronary heart disease) and Diabetes in Scotland” which expressed great concern about the rise of diabetes.

It said that diabetes was ” growing dramatically” and that “the impact of living with diabetes has potentially devastating consequences for individuals, the NHS in Scotland and our society as a whole.”

It forecast that by 2018, the number of cases of diabetes in NHS Tayside would rise to 15,267.

This prediction was based purely on population-based changes .

It did add that, “Given lifestyle trends, especially increasing levels of obesity, the true number with diabetes is likely to be even greater.”

Ms. Glen said,

“The latest Scottish Diabetes Survey now puts the numbers with the condition in NHS Tayside in January 2010 at 18,157

“That is already well over 2,000 greater than the forecasted figure for 2018.”

“These figures reveal the considerable effect that diet, activity and life style factors have contributed towards the sharp rise.”

“Its prevention remains a health priority, particularly when the prevalence of diabetes is linked with another major public health concern, obesity.

According to the 2009 Scottish Diabetes survey, there are 16,283 people in NHS Tayside with the more common Type 2 diabetes and a further 1,771 with Type 1.

The overall Tayside figures accounts for 4.6 per cent of the population (the Scottish figure is 4,4 per cent)

Ms. Glen said that there are over 2,400 people in NHS Tayside are estimated to have undiagnosed diabetes, according to the Scottish Public Health Observatory

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland estimate the cost of diabetic care now costs £1 billion, which is 10 per cent of the national health service budget.

Ms. Glen said,

” The prodigious costs to the individual, society in general and the health service make uncontrolled diabetes one of today’s major public health problems.”

9 June 2010
Marlyn Glen is re-tabling a question to the Scottish Government in the Scottish Parliament on the number of people in Dundee and Angus admitted to hospital for diabetes because of “a lack of information that was made available in the past”.
Ms. Glen is attempting to assist in raising public awareness of the extent of diabetes locally, and had tabled a question asking for details of the number of admissions to hospital for diabetes in Dundee and Angus in each of the past four years to see if there was a trend in the figures
The answer she received indicated that the numbers ranged from 141 to 174 a year in Dundee, and from 101 to 138 a year in Angus.
These figures related to instances where diabetes was a primary diagnosis, and the Scottish Government would not provide the information by area ( ” intermediate geography zone”) ” due to the small numbers and the associated risk of disclosure of information on individual patients.”
However, Ms. Glen said that when she asked the Scottish Government the same question in September 2007,the Scottish Government said there were 2,073 acute hospital admissions for diabetes in Dundee in 2005-06 and 1,264 in Angus.
This was because cases where diabetes was either a primary or a secondary diagnosis were included in the answer.
In the most recent answer the Scottish Government has restricted the numbers to only those with a primary diagnosis of diabetes.
In addition, information was given on the number of cases in 31 areas of Dundee and 25 areas of Angus ( “intermediate geographical zones” )
Ms. Glen said that hospital admissions were just one source of diagnosis of the condition.
She said,
“The fullest possible information that is consistent with patient confidentiality should be made available to raise public awareness of the condition, given its particular relationship with obesity.
” It may be that the levels of confidentiality have been raised or classifications changed since last I raised this question.
“However, the trend in data availability is towards the local level with the benefits that can come from developing health policy at local level.”
Ms. Glen is to ask the Scottish Government for the same information for Dundee and Angus for acute admissions where diabetes is either a primary or a secondary diagnosis.

Marlyn Glen said today that NHS Tayside has been placed in “a terrible situation because of underfunding by the Scottish Government.”

She was responding to a reply from the health board indicating how they intending to deal with the cuts ordered by the SNP Government resulting in almost 500 posts to go this year.

Ms Glen had written to NHS Tayside asking how they intended to shed – 500 jobs – 1 in every 20 posts in the health board in the current year – to achieve a saving of £4 million in “vacancy control management” without reducing front-line services or affecting patient care.

She asked also if posts held by those on maternity leave and long-term sickness would remain unfilled, and how a further £1 million was to be saved through measures affecting skill mix and bank and agency staff.

Ms. Glen commented,

” The Health Board told the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee recently that there was a high risk that they would fail to achieve reductions in spending of £30 million in the current financial year.

“Consistent with NHS Tayside’s existing policy on recruitment to vacant posts, services are asked in the first instance to consider opportunities for the more effective utilisation of existing staff through internal recruitment or deployment.

“This helps ensure the continued development and progression of our existing workforce, matched both to current service need and to new roles emerging through service redesign.”